30 Flames Bound for IC4A/ECAC Meets in Boston

On the heels of a successful showing at the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships, 30 Liberty men's and women's track & field athletes are preparing to travel to Boston for this weekend's 2013 IC4A and ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.

This year, the men's IC4A and women's ECAC meets will be held concurrently at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, Friday through Sunday. Friday's action will begin at 4 p.m., with the IC4A heptathlon 60-meter dash. Saturday's first events are the IC4A heptathlon 60-meter hurdles, triple jump and weight throw, all set for 10 a.m. start times. On Sunday, the IC4A long jump and ECAC shot put will get the day started at 9:30 a.m.

How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames Live results will be available throughout the IC4A and ECAC meets, courtesy of Lancer Timing.

What Do All of These Letters Stand For? The acronym ECAC is short for Eastern College Athletic Conference. According to the ECAC website, it "is the nation's largest athletic conference and only multi-divisional conference, with approximately 300 member institutions ranging across 16 states from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois." This weekend's women's meet is officially titled the ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championship.

Meanwhile, the concurrent men's meet is called the IC4A Indoor Track & Field Championship. IC4A stands for Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, and the name is only applied to the ECAC's Division I men's championships in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field.

Tracking the Team Battle The Liberty men's team has earned a team trophy at this meet three of the past five years, placing second in 2008, third in 2010 and tied for second in 2011. Last season, the Flames shared ninth place in the final IC4A standings.

Meanwhile, the Lady Flames are coming off of their highest-ever ECAC indoor finish, placing 11th last season. Liberty then went on to post a seventh-place finish at the 2012 ECAC Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, equaling the team's best-ever placement at the meet.

Last Year's Top Finishers Jocelyn Williams provided Liberty's biggest highlight at the 2012 ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships with an unexpected victory in the weight throw. She uncorked a school-record throw of 62-6.5 on her sixth and final attempt to win the competition. However, Williams is redshirting this season and will not be able to defend her title.

Ryan Smith was the Flames' top IC4A indoor finisher last season, claiming runner-up honors in the weight throw with a mark of 63-2. Smith, who placed second in the event at last week's Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships, will be in search of his first career IC4A event title.

Last Call for Fayetteville The IC4A and ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will provide one final opportunity for athletes to qualify for the 2013 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. The NCAA meet will be contested at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., March 8-9.

In order to guarantee a trip to Fayetteville, athletes need to be ranked within the nation's top 16 in a given event. Liberty does not have anyone in the top 16 at this point in the season.

Ryan Smith currently ranks No. 40 in the weight throw at 64-4 and sits No. 42 in the shot put at 59-0.25. Meanwhile, Mychelle Cumings is the highest-ranked Lady Flame on the national list, residing at No. 53 in the shot put at 51-4.25.

Athletes to Watch Entries for the IC4A and ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships have not been released yet, but four Flames and Lady Flames rank within the top 15 of their respective events on the pre-meet IC4A/ECAC yearly performance lists.

The last Liberty individual to win the same event at the Big South and IC4A/ECAC indoor meets during the same year was Clarence Powell. He achieved the Big South/IC4A high jump sweep in 2010.

Continuing the Tradition Through the years, Liberty's best events at the IC4A and ECAC meets have been the multi events. The Flames have captured 12 IC4A decathlon titles and one IC4A heptathlon crown. Meanwhile, the Lady Flames have won two ECAC heptathlon championships and a pair of ECAC pentathlon competitions.

Liberty has five athletes entered in the multi events this weekend, as Cody Bingham and Tevan McIntire will contest the IC4A heptathlon while the trio of Audrey Bamford, Riley Brandon and Christina Mitchell competes in the ECAC pentathlon. Mitchell was the 2011 ECAC heptathlon champion outdoors.